Move 11 (Chapter 1.11)

[yhlee]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Sixteen (Sunday), evening
Station Moongray

On the Station, at The Bar on Level Three: Virmad

[lleullawgyffes, it's up to you whether you want to say that Virmad gets caught up with Teo and/or matters on station overnight, or whether he will take care of matters with Teo quickly enough to join the others at the "Bumblebee" below.]

Per this thread, Teo has just greeted Virmad in the bar. To recap for your convenience:

The Bar on Level Three really is on Level Three. There are helpful directories pointing the way, but the fact that a number of people are heading there, and the cheerful clamor of people talking, and music, would have made it easy to find regardless.

The bartender is a trim woman with her hair hanging about her face in fantastic coils; the combs and hairpins look like they're about to escape. She's pouring a drink for a slouching Nirai technician when Virmad arrives. "You're new here," she says. "What can I get you?"

Kel Teo is sitting at a seat where he has a clear view of all exits. (Very Kel.) He's had a chance to change out of his uniform; he's wearing a sleek suit in shades of deep brown, and he's also embellished himself with gold-and-amber jewelry. He waves when he spots Virmad, smiling.

Teo adds that he's happy to pay for Virmad's drink--the first one, anyway, and some of the local grub. "I recommend the fried pork fritters with barbecue sauce," Teo says, "But maybe that's not ascetic enough fare for a Rahal?" (He's teasing.)


On the Station, on the "Bumblebee": Sulen, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric
Also probably: Ashari?, Mikodez?

Recap:
Remi has explained, at Sasha's insistence, that the baby moths were hatched in captivity from eggs stolen from the parents by a heptarchate expedition, and that the parents are likely dead. He claims that this all happened before he himself arrived on the station, and that he's been advocating for humane treatment of the baby moths.

Alaric has just explained that he discovered the Wasp's "moth" is a sentient starfaring being and has been communicating with it using pictures [Move 10].

Moving on:
Remi's response to this is to stare at Alaric in horror. "Do you seriously want me to believe that you were using a living being as your spaceship and didn't even check for sapience? I thought that was basic protocol...unless," and his expression sours, "it was convenient for people to hush it up?" He stares at Alaric. "Well, I can't blame it for wanting to adopt the young of its kind, but that's a high-security enclosure..."

[Remi might well be responsive to helping them kidnap the baby moths, assuming the whole conversation doesn't blow up in a completely different direction, but he's not going to offer unless someone else brings it up. There's plenty of opportunity for people to opine on what should be done about the baby moths, whether Alaric has been behaving appropriately, who Sasha should have notified, etc. If you need help brainstorming on your action, please let me know and I'll get back to you when I can; others players might also have thoughts.]


[GM suggests that Ashari and Mikodez could either have returned to the ship for the meeting with Remi, or else could teleconference in.

smokedetective: Ashari probably wants to be present in some form for the discussion, not least for possible/likely pending confrontation with Sasha per zuhrovet's notes. If teleconferencing, Istradez will be happy to cover for them with any pesky people.

pengwern: If Mikodez prefers not to be involved in this discussion, he could plausibly be investigating the nonresponsiveness of the Kel at the moment after they helped Sulen stow Gerae, or assigned to keep an eye on Gerae, who might be feeling confessional while everyone else is occupied.]

---

Active in Move 10: Sulen, Virmad, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric, Mikodez, Ashari

Inactive: Yehan, Ankat, Kaliyan

Comments

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[smokedetective]

Ashari eyes Sulen. Their straightforwardness would be cute if it didn’t interfere with their, well, little game.

They nod slightly to Sasha. A divided front never looks good, Instead of the dozen things they could do, they sit down next to Sasha and put a well-manicured hand on her shoulder, looking at her with an affection they usually reserved for new clothes, poisons, cats, and Sulen.

“Thank you for taking initiative, darling. You’re always so responsible,” they purr, and look up at Remi. “Before we agree to take anything on, I would like to hear more of a plan of action from you. Simply and clearly, now.”

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[yhlee]

"If you want to evacuate the mothlings without having to return for them," Remi says, "I'll need to go back to the station. I can trigger a carapace breach in my lab, which will necessitate its evacuation, and maybe jinx the security systems using admin access. The problem is getting the mothlings out of their habitat. They can survive in deep space, but they don't fly with any speed. If I just release them from the habitat, the station will be free to shoot them down. I'd really rather that not happen. I think it'll be safer if we manage to detach the habitat and take it with us. Your adult moth should have enough engine power to do that, if you can get it out of the dock to swing by for pickup without arousing suspicion."

Remi shrugs. "I'm open to suggestions. I'm a scientist, not special ops. This kind of thing is not exactly my area of specialty."

[Sasha should be able to see from her map that the habitat is about half the size of the "Bumblebee," but it should be able to haul it with some jury-rigging.]

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[venndaai]

[This'll be interesting without any active Kel players.]

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[yhlee]

[Yeah, GM suggests perhaps someone suggesting an alternative that doesn't involve potential military action!]

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[venndaai]

Sulen's glad they have decades of experience keeping a poker face because otherwise they'd be redfaced and steaming. They can't decide whether they're more angry with Sasha or Ashari- probably Ashari, what, do they think they can make Sulen jealous? But they manage to get their thoughts back on track enough to say, "What if the station was... very distracted?"

plotting escape - paging Ashari

[zuhrovet]

Sasha sits very still.

"We can handle the security systems. We may even be able to activate the carapace breach somewhere else, and make the habitat release look like collateral damage. But there are two ships between us and the rift. If we leave precipitously, the Butterfly may pursue. I don't know how the other ship will react, though I might be able to slow it down." She turns her head toward Ashari, and adds, "So we need a political explanation for our departure. Or a station disaster bad enough that it makes sense to run away. I await your guidance."

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[vass]

"Our honored guest is a scientist," Iawa points out. "Could he requisition the baby moths for an expedition to study the effects of... rift energy on them? Maybe their behavior changes as they get closer to the rift. Or something."

Re: Plotting Escape - Ashari's petting Sasha's hair like a James Bond villain pets a cat

[smokedetective]

Ashari lightly stroked an uneven tuft of Sasha's hair with one well-manicured finger.

"You know," they say, "if all of my art projects were destroyed in the trip over to the station, we would have to go out to the rift. For reference and inspiration. And perhaps, if it was the station's fault, they would be amenable to, hm, lend both our lovely guest and the... mothlings? To us. For the in depth knowledge of expertise. That would combine some I'm assuming necessary research with simple good manners. We could compare notes, chat, work on the pieces and research... And if we got, oh, accidentally sucked into the rift, that would be no one's fault except the pilot's."

They blinked slowly, almost lovingly, at Sasha. "Of course, if anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them."

Re: Plotting Escape - Ashari's petting Sasha's hair like a James Bond villain pets a cat

[zuhrovet]

Every muscle in Sasha's body locks.

This isn't Naxarat. Ashari doesn't own her, not to any greater degree than they did three minutes ago. They're not invoking the obedience clause of the standard fucking marriage contract.

"Please," she manages to say. "I don't understand."

[Between Remi's comments on barter and the no-seduction note in his file, I infer that he has very strong feelings about consent. I can only hope that he thinks Ashari's antics are too mild to register.

Also, Sasha's exotic powers tend to activate under stress...]

Re: Plotting Escape - Ashari’s the Worst

[smokedetective]

Ashari leans back and picks up their tea. Having Sasha unable to think just won’t do. That technique had never been... that effective. Usually, anyone in a power grab hits right back, hard. They haven’t even flashed their eyes. But. Sasha isn’t an Andan, so it’s best to give her the benefit of doubt for now.

When they speak again, their voice isn’t as lovey dovey, but it still has a soft edge to it.

“If you, and everybody else here, thinks this can be done, this being getting our lovely guest and the mothlings off the station and to the wormhole, I’m all ears. If you think it will work, don’t think it will work, or have any suggestions or ideas, or want to poke holes, I’m all ears. The more flaws we work out now, the more smoothly it will hopefully go later. Because I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not die on this little station, and I believe our time is rather limited.”

[To anyone watching closely, Ashari’s signifier has definitely shifted from Kniferose Unsheathed to Unblooming.]

Re: Plotting Escape - Ashari’s the Worst

[venndaai]

[Sulen is always watching closely, and now they are less angry but more stressed, which is probably not a net positive.]

signifiers

[zuhrovet]

At the beginning of the conversation with Remi, Sasha had a flickery signifier-- there were a couple of flashes of a moth in flight, though that doesn't narrow things down much-- but she's now displaying a bright, crisp Broken-Winged Moth.

Re: Plotting Escape - possibly constructive criticism

[zuhrovet]

Sasha takes three deep breaths. Order of operations, she tells herself. Ashari may have no shame and no sense of duty, but Sasha can wait until they're not entertaining a guest.

She thinks about taking her own sip of tea, but fails to persuade her hand to move. That's all right; she has a sufficiency of tea; obtaining more is an issue for another moment.

The problem at hand is social engineering. Because that's always the problem. "I... just... I don't see what moths have to do with the rifts. And I don't think the incentives are right for the station, Rii, in what you're proposing. They're not objecting to hosting your art, and it's gorgeous, but what they want from us is technology transfer. You can tell them anything you like about why you want to borrow Nirai Remi. But they'll only play along if they think they'll learn something about our ship."

She glances at Remi and adds, "Please, can you tell us, how big are the mothlings? What sort of support do they require? Do we definitely need to bring their habitat, or could we carry them in our hold if we figured out how to transfer them?"

Re: Plotting Escape - possibly constructive criticism

[yhlee]

Remi looks thoughtful. "At this stage? There are thirteen of them, and they're about the size of a large toddler, except they resemble large tentacly wormy things with silver eyespots and they like to flitter around when they're playing with each other. The original expedition called the silver areas eyespots, although the moths don't seem to 'see' the way we do, in the electromagnetic spectrum, but rather by detecting gravitational fluctuations. At this phase of their development, they subsist off radiation. If you can shield your hold so that humans don't get irradiated, they would probably fit. They don't need constant radiation, so they'd survive a transfer. The question is getting them past station security."

Remi grimaces and adds, "I wish I could tell you how to bribe Lieutenant Teo, but he likes his job and seems to be a fine, upstanding specimen of a Kel."

Re: Plotting Escape - possibly constructive criticism - question for Ashari

[zuhrovet]

Saint and prophet, they've finally reduced to a technical problem. "How cooperative are the mothlings? Could we put each one in a box and move the boxes? How long would we have before your staff noticed?"

[My impression is that the station is much more interested in things we're removing from the Wasp than things we're loading onto it, but presumably they have some kind of monitoring. Did Sasha go through formal security when returning to the Wasp? Are the station-security monitors feeding information to the same place as the wriggly virus, or is that separate?

smokedetective, is Ashari aware of Ankat's plan to use drones to bypass security and get ammunition on station?]

Re: Plotting Escape - possibly constructive criticism - Ashari’s back on their bullshit

[smokedetective]

[If it was mentioned in their presence or in a report, they’re aware of it, otherwise they have no clue what’s up.]

“And we’d still need a good excuse to get to the wormhole, whether it’s of a more diplomatic nature, say offering a demonstration of how something or other works, or a more violent distraction, say setting the station on fire or, ah, drugging key individuals?”

Re: Plotting Escape - possibly constructive criticism - question for Ashari

[yhlee]

"The mothlings wouldn't object if they were sedated first," Remi says after a pause. "It's not ideal, but we did identify some drugs that work on them. My assistant Vana is going to notice if we start shifting mothling-sized boxes out of the lab, though."

[Sasha only went through a cursory scan on the way back onto the Wasp. The sttion security monitors are feeding info to the same place as the wriggly virus.]

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[yhlee]

Remi nods at Iawa with more friendliness than he's shown most anyone else. "The problem is the scientific method," he says ruefully. "I'd never be able to get that past a station full of Nirai--they'd insist on half the mothlings staying behind as a control group. So at most we could smuggle out half that way, which isn't ideal."

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[slybrarian]

"Less than ideal is right," Alaric agrees, "since our moth might not agree to leave without all of them. How are the mothlings observed? Is it just people peering at them through a pane of glass, or do they do it mainly by something we could hack like sensors and cameras?"

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[yhlee]

"Sensors and cameras," Remi says. There is a portal for direct observation but almost no one looks at it anymore. If any of you is good at hacking..." He shrugs.

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[zuhrovet]

Remi either missed the sarcasm dripping from "minor expertise in security engineering", or is trying to mess with Sasha. Probably the latter. "I should think you'd do all right yourself, judging from the station's footage of your recent excursion. Or lack thereof. But we can certainly simulate an occupied room for you, if you're willing to share your data."

[It's astonishing how hostile people get when you accuse them of murdering intelligent beings for professional advancement!]

Re: plotting escape - paging Ashari

[yhlee]

"Fair enough," Remi says. [Remi is indeed still residually and irrationally ticked at Sasha.] "I can even give you passwords and accesses, if that will facilitate matters." He shrugs. "I'm going to be trusting the lot of you with my life and the mothlings' lives shortly, anyway."

Re: plotting escape

[zuhrovet]

And Remi could have reported the ship's moth to the authorities at any time, so destruction is mutually assured. "Thank you. Access would be very much appreciated. Were you involved in the construction of the habitat? Do your files include schematics? These regions of my map look like some sort of port"-- Sasha highlights them-- "do they allow for emergency evacuation?"

Re: plotting escape

[yhlee]

"I was involved in the habitat design, yes," Remi says, "as I had to provide a number of the specifications. The ports do indeed allow for emergency evacuation. It'll trigger an alarm, but I assume you can shut that down."

Re: what was Remi even thinking?

[zuhrovet]

[If you want to break Sasha you should touch her hair. She cut it with her eyes shut earlier today in game time, so it's probably driving Ashari up the wall already.]